Can We Still Love It? Separating the Artist and the Work

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, many artists and personalities who had inappropriate behavior we know and love are being outed. This is good. All industries need this, especially in areas like the arts where people can be victimized because they love the work. At the same time, it sucks to think that someone as talented as Kevin Spacey could be a perpetrator of sexual assault. I read a well written article in the Washington Post about Louis C.K., a beloved comedian who, it turns out, masturbated in front of female colleagues, among other behavior. Hank Stuever addressed in his article the conflict that we have to wrestle with after these allegations come to light:

“We are again left to wonder: Do our good memories and experiences of the original material also no longer exist? Will we be haunted by the idea that FX’s Emmy-winning dramedy “Louie” was — despite those sharply executed moments that explored gender, sex, mortality and the human condition — merely a gigantic work of overcompensation by a guy who wanted to be seen as an enlightened satirist, even as he knew, not very deep down, that he was behaving like a pig?”

I heard some of Louis C.K.’s comedy sketches, a few hours of it during a car ride. He was quite funny, a little crass, but plenty of comedians are. I didn’t seek out his work but I respected his name when I heard it mentioned. The friend who played the comedy sketches in the car really loved his work. I feel worse for him. It’s a good thing Louis C.K.’s been exposed for intolerable behavior, but it sucks for fans. How do we separate the artists from the work? Is it even possible? Is work made by terrible people automatically invalidated as something one can delight in?

I wish only good people who didn’t sexually harass those around them were capable of making beautiful things that touch our hearts and mind. It seems that’s not to case, and it sucks. I think you can still respect the work, no matter the actions of the person behind it, but you have to make yourself recognize when they make a sexist joke that there’s an underlying problem. It lessons your enjoyment of their work, but ignoring it would be worse.